Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Israel's fate does not depend on whether a trip to the United States is successful, Menachem Begin used to say, in the days of the peace process with Egypt. Once, he even called into his office Samuel Lewis, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, and gave him an earful. "Are we a vassal of yours?" he famously asked.

But when Anwar Sadat and Begin landed at Andrews Air Force Base on September 5, 1978, on their way to the Camp David summit, Sadat praised America's involvement. Begin also applauded the U.S. administration as he disembarked from the plane. "The day will come and we will say 'habemus pacem' [Latin for "we have peace"] at Camp David," he said. Later, Begin's aides would join the journalists in singing "Habemus Pacem Aleichem" to the tune of "Heveinu Shalom Aleichem."

Unlike President Carter, a devout Christian from the South who was not a supporter of Israel, and who applied atomic pressure on Begin to give up all of Sinai and its settlements and made him sign a document recognizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, President Bush is a fan - even a groupie - of Israel.

About Me

American born, my wife and I moved to Israel in 1970. We have lived at Shiloh together with our family since 1981. I was in the Betar youth movement in the US and UK. I have worked as a political aide to Members of Knesset and a Minister during 1981-1994, lectured at the Academy for National Studies 1977-1994, was director of Israel's Media Watch 1995-2000 and currently, I work at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. I was a guest media columnist on media affairs for The Jerusalem Post, op-ed contributor to various journals and for six years had a weekly media show on Arutz 7 radio. I serve as an unofficial spokesperson for the Jewish Communities in Judea & Samaria.